By Any Other Name
by The Forgotten Nobody
Summary: When an old school friend of Julian's visits, Barry finds out far more than he bargained for. Au after 3x03. Barry/Julian
1. Chapter 1

Barry shifted his bag further up his shoulder as he hurried up the stairs to the lab. He was so late and this time he didn't even have the excuse of a Flash-related emergency, he'd just simply overslept. Barry was about to barge in, an apology ready on his lips when he heard shouting coming from the room. Curious, Barry slowed.

"I said no Potter!" Julian snapped.

Tentatively, Barry tip-toed towards the door. He knew eavesdropping wasn't a particularly heroic thing to do but Barry's morals only remained up to a certain point and he couldn't help but want to know who could get Julian so riled up as to actually _yell_. Pressing himself against the wall beside the slightly open door, Barry listened in.

"Come on Draco, everyone really wants to see you."

Draco? Barry's forehead crinkled in confusion. Was there someone else in the room or was this guy, Potter, calling Julian Draco? He sounded British as well so maybe he was a family member? A childhood friend?

Barry heard the steady tap of shoes against the floor indicating that Julian had started pacing, something he was accustomed to do when frustrated.

"I'm sure," Julian sneered and Barry could just imagine those intense, grey eyes narrowed in a glare. Having been on the receiving end of it enough himself, Barry almost felt sorry for the other guy. "Look how well poor Draco's doing for himself. Living just like a muggle. The irony. I'll have you know I've fought for my life here, to keep it completely separate from my old one, and I will not have anyone, especially Saint Potter, ruin it."

It felt like Barry had stepped into the twilight zone. What the hell was a muggle? Was it a British word or something?

"No one wants to do that. I definitely don't want to do that," Potter soothed. "I only thought, since I was over here, that I would see if you wanted to come. It would be nice, just for the anniversary."

"Like I want any reminder of that god-awful time. I'm shocked you do."

"It's not supposed to be a sad event. It's going to be a celebration and it won't be an open event either, it's only for students who were at Hogwarts at the time. A few professors will be there as well. It's supposed to be the opportunity for a catch up; it's not like I'm asking you to do a speech."

"Just as well. I told you Potter, I'm not interested in going to an event where I'm not wanted."

"You're not hated Draco, far from it. I heard Parkinson's going."

"You always were delusional Potter," Julian scoffed. "Most likely she said that to stop people pestering her, like you are me. You've heard my answer and I'm not changing it so you may as well leave."

"Oh. Well, I'll pop by again. I'm here for the next few days, consultancy work and all that."

"Joy."

Even though he was still incredibly confused, Barry couldn't help but think how satisfying it was to hear Julian's sarcasm directed at someone other than him.

"I'll see you around Draco."

"Hopefully not."

Worried about getting caught, Barry flashed out of the building. With his mind replaying everything he'd just heard, he was too caught up to look where he was going and so abruptly collided with a body leaving the same door he was trying to get through. Only a firm grip on his arm prevented him from falling to the ground.

"Oops, sorry mate," came a thoroughly British apology that had Barry's head snapping up, his eyes wide. His first thought, staring at the man in front of him, was that he definitely was not related to Julian. They were polar opposites. Where Julian was fair and impeccably put together, this guy was tanned and had messy black hair and glasses framing bright emerald eyes. He already appeared much friendlier than Julian, wearing the sort of smile that was endearingly awkward. Suddenly, Barry wondered if Potter was an ex and his stomach churned uncomfortably.

"Er, no, my fault," said Barry after realising he'd been staring a bit too long. He stepped to the side and allowed the mysterious Potter to pass him, only heading back up to the lab once he'd disappeared from sight. Inside, Julian was still pacing and it was testament to how distracted the conversation had left him that he didn't automatically reprimand Barry. Relieved, the speedster put on a puzzled expression.

"Everything alright?" He asked and Julian paused, his spine straightening. He turned his head and glanced at Barry, a frown on his face.

"Fine…fine," he muttered. Seeming to realise his behaviour was odd, Julian slumped into his chair which, even if Barry hadn't heard a thing, would've seem weird since Julian never slouched. He had perfect posture, with everything he did being done with a certain precision and grace that Barry could only envy. A bit like a swan.

Barry didn't think Julian would appreciate being compared to a bird.

"You sure? You seem a bit…stressed."

"I said I'm fine Po-Allen," Julian snapped, his mood souring further from his near mistake. He took a deep breath and in a calmer voice said, "I'm alright so do you fancy finally getting some work done or are you just going to stand there?"

Barry held up his hands in surrender. Clearly he was going to get nothing out of Julian. "Okay, I'm sorry for asking."

Still keeping an eye on Julian, Barry started on his own pile of work. He desperately wanted to know who Potter was, why he had called Julian Draco, but he doubted he'd be able to get anything out of the blonde without revealing he'd eavesdropped which would then probably undo all of his work at attempting to improve their relationship. Sighing, Barry opened up his laptop and began to type. With luck, Potter would show himself again.

* * *

As it turned out, Barry didn't have to wait long at all for Potter to show up again. They were working on a new case (a warehouse had been burnt to the ground with no obvious cause or culprit) and Barry was leaning over Julian's shoulder to look at his computer ( _not_ breathing in his nice, expensive cologne) when a knock sounded at the door. Without waiting for a reply, it opened.

"Hey Draco, I was wondering if-oops sorry!"

Beneath him, Julian tensed.

"Etiquette really does go over your head, doesn't it?" Julian greeted tersely and Barry straightened up, offering Potter a smile.

"Uh, hi, I'm Barry Allen, the guy who knocked into you yesterday," Barry introduced, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. He ignored he glare that Julian sent him as he stepped around the desk and held out a hand. Potter took it cheerfully.

"Harry Potter, pleasure to meet you."

"This is all very lovely but as you can see Potter, I'm busy and if you could please-"

"So how do you know Julian or uh, Draco, I think you called him?" Barry interrupted before Julian could send away Barry's one shot at getting some answers. Behind him, he heard a sharp intake of breath.

Harry flushed a little, scratching the back of his neck. "Oh, uh, that. Well I-"

"A silly nick-name from when we were children," Julian interjected smoothly. "Harry and I went to school together. He's in the States on business and intent on bothering me it seems." He finished that with a glower that seemed to brush right off Harry. Even if he did happen to be an ex, Barry couldn't help but like the guy.

"Draco likes to pretend we're not friends," Harry said conspiratorially and Barry laughed at the disgusted eye roll from Julian that provoked.

"Honestly Potter, we actually have jobs to do so you ought to run along now."

"Okay, fine. I was going to ask if you wanted to go get lunch but if you're so busy then I'll leave you to it."

"You go to lunch," Barry said quickly. Even if there was some obvious animosity, Barry thought it might do Julian some good to talk to someone from home. During the night where they had ended up getting drinks, Julian had been great at telling Harry little anecdotes without going too in depth. Something had clearly gone on when he was younger and Barry just had a feeling it might help Julian to be around people he used to know. From what Barry had seen, he didn't appear to have many friends. Although, he was beginning to think he might be wrong considering the death-promising look Julian was directing at him.

"Really Allen, trying to get me to leave just so you can skive off again isn't going to work," Julian said, incredibly unimpressed, and now it was Barry's turn to roll his eyes.

"I wasn't going to skive," he argued. "I just thought it might be nice. You rarely speak about your friends and your life in England so this is a rare experience."

"Why don't you both come?" Harry suggested. "I'd love to learn more about what Dra-Julian's like here."

Julian let out a frustrated sigh. "We really don't have the time to-"

"Sounds great," Barry grinned and Julian shoved his face into his palms.

* * *

They decided to go to the little independent café around the corner. Barry often stopped by there when he needed something quick and recently he'd started bringing Julian snacks from there back with him which had done wonders at getting the speedster in his good graces. Barry had hoped with the prospect of food that Julian's spirits might have improved but he was beginning to feel bad as he realised that Julian still looked genuinely uncomfortable. Why though, he couldn't really understand. Harry seemed like a good guy and surely he wouldn't be worried about the other man bringing up any embarrassing or traumatic stories from school?

"So Barry, are you a CSI too?" Harry asked before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Obviously he is," Julian muttered. Barry ignored him.

"Yeah. We started working together, uh, when was it?"

"A year," Julian supplied bluntly. Oh yeah.

"A yeah, that's a long time. How do you find working together?"

Seeing that Julian wasn't going to jump at the chance to answer, Barry said, "It was difficult at first but I think we understand each other a little more."

It was true. After the incident with Frankie, the dynamic between Barry and Julian had shifted. In fact, Barry might even dare to say they could be called friends. Which was both great and extremely bad because with Julian's transformation into a decent guy came Barry's startling realisation that this made him really, very, attractive. It didn't hurt that one stray comment that night had all but confirmed he was bi. However, despite this, there was still the lingering tension that arose from the two of them being tight-lipped about certain parts of themselves. Barry had hoped this lunch might ease some of it but it wasn't looking promising yet.

"Yeah, Draco was always a little difficult in school," Harry said good-naturedly and again, Julian stiffened next to him.

"Probably top of the class though, right?" Barry asked, hoping to lighten the mood a bit more. Praising Julian seemed like a good way to do that.

"Nearly," Harry replied. "My best friend Hermione was tough competition."

Barry caught the sneer that was threatening to form on Julian's face and wished Harry could at least have played along.

"Ah well, he's one of the smartest guys we have," Barry said, clapping Julian on the shoulder. "Not much gets past him."

If Julian noticed how Barry might have been going slightly over-board with the compliments, he didn't seem to mind. "We can't all be you Allen, otherwise how would anything get done?"

If it weren't for the slight upwards quirk of Julian's lips, Barry would have been offended. As it was, he couldn't help but smile at the blithe insult because _this_ was the kind of easy banter Barry wanted. This was the real Julian that lurked beneath a frosty exterior and Barry wanted to continue to bring him out. He wanted to remove the mask Julian had in order to keep people at a distance.

"I'm not always late," Barry said with a grin. "So Harry, what do you do back in England?"

"I'm actually part of the force back home. An…officer. I'm in America for a little while to see how things work over here."

"Oh, cool. You might have met my foster father then, Joe West?"

"Um, no. Can't say I have," Harry answered, a weird expression on his face, but Barry didn't have time to question further as his phone began to buzz in his pocket. A quick look informed him that there was a new meta on the loose.

"Sorry about this," Barry said apologetically. "Something's come up. I'm gonna have to leave."

"Wait Allen, should I come with-"

Barry flew out the door before Julian could finish.

* * *

"What kind of power does this woman even have?" Barry yelled into the comms, struggling to hear over the sounds of the alarmed public. "Is she some kind of witch?"

"Spell Caster's what we're calling her," Cisco replied in his ear. "And we don't know- incoming on your right!"

Barry dodged the sparkling blue spell that came his way. He had to admit, whoever this woman was, she'd created the perfect character. Instead of ordinary clothes, she wore a long, sapphire cloak and upon her head sat an elaborately decorated witches hat. Not only that, but she carried a wand on her which she somehow managed to direct her powers through, something Barry had never seen before. To finish it off, with every 'spell' she cast, she yelled out some gibberish before it. Barry was quickly learning that ' _confringo'_ , something Spell Caster was trigger happy with, meant nothing good judging from the number of explosions that had followed its call.

Barry sped out of the way of a light red blast, a bang sounding behind him. "Why are you doing this?" Barry shouted to her. Back in the labs, no one had managed to find a record of the woman yet so Barry didn't even know her name.

"Are you kidding? I've never had so much fun!" Spell Caster laughed and rattled off another spell, this one turning a set of traffic lights into stone. Barry didn't even want to think about if that had hit a person.

He ran forward, intent on snatching her 'wand' off her and putting her in cuffs but just as Barry almost had her in his grasp, Spell Caster vanished. Literally vanished into thin air.

"For a muggle, you're pretty good!"

Barry didn't even have the chance to move before he felt something strike his back and his limbs seized. Just before consciousness left him, Barry repeated the word again in his head.

Muggles.

* * *

"I don't know man, this is like nothing we've ever seen before," Cisco said as Barry rotated his shoulder, Caitlin watching in concern. Fortunately, the paralysis hadn't taken too long to wear off but he was left with a lingering stiffness in his joints.

"It's as if she has multiple powers," Iris said with a frown, tapping a pen thoughtfully against the table.

"Is that possible?" Wally asked.

"Maybe?" Barry answered doubtfully. "I mean, it's not as if she's a real witch. Maybe she can steal other metas powers and is able to channel them into a single beam?"

"A possible hypothesis but that doesn't explain how the spells actually seem to come from her…wand," Harry muttered, still searching the database for a trace of Spell Caster's identity. So far they still hadn't come close to finding a single thing on her. It was like she didn't even exist.

"Special effects?" Jesse theorised. "Maybe the lady's so into this whole illusion thing she has going that she made the wand herself."

"I don't care how she's doing it, I just want her stopped," Joe grunted. "Do you know how much property damage she's done?"

"We'll get her next time," Barry said confidently, just as his phone vibrated. He knew who it was without looking. "Uh, I'd better get back to work. I've taken a pretty long lunch break."

"Julian checking up on you?" Iris guessed, a knowing smile on her face. Barry fought back a blush. Ever since Barry had confessed his attraction to Julian to her she'd been trying to get him to ask the other CSI out on a date.

"Is he still on your case? I thought things were better," Joe said concernedly, misinterpreting the situation entirely.

"They are," Barry assured him. "I just sort of left him in an awkward situation. I'll see you guys later."

With that, Barry flashed away, running back to work, immediately faced with an extremely disgruntled Julian.

"So, where did you gallivant off to this time?" Julian asked and Barry tried not to feel like a kid facing the principle.

"Uh, family emergency." Barry winced at the flat stare that earnt him. "Sorry about running off."

"As well you should be, considering it was your entire fault in the first place."

"Again, sorry. So, um, did you hear about that new meta?"

"What meta?" All of a sudden, Julian was on high alert, Barry's infraction all but forgotten.

"There was some witchy-looking woman on the streets. I hear she's being called Spell Caster."

Julian paused for a moment, his face paling, before he shook his head with a sigh. "Spell Caster. Of course." He pinched the skin between his brows. He probably ought to never mention to Cisco what Julian thought of his nicknames for metas. "Elaborate on her power?"

"I heard she kept saying random words, spells I guess, and each one had a different effect. One caused explosions and another caused stuff to turn into stone. She even teleported! Weird right? I can't figure out how she could have all those different powers."

As Barry spoke, Julian scrunched further into himself and wearily sat on his chair. Seeing him do this reminded Barry of Harry, which then reminded him of that word again. Muggles.

Both Julian and Spell Caster had said this and Barry still had no idea what it meant, apart from Spell Caster apparently casting him as one. There was no way that Julian was Spell Caster but there had to be a connection. Did he dare ask Julian? Or would the man bring it up himself?

Barry knew what the answer to the first question was. There was no way, at least not yet, that he was risking Julian's outrage at him. He really rather preferred it when Julian liked/tolerated him.

"Have there been any casualties?" Julian asked, bringing Barry back out of his thoughts.

"No, a couple of injuries but nothing life threatening I think," Barry answered. Julian relaxed minutely.

"Good," he sighed.

"It'll be okay though," Barry felt the need to reassure. "The Flash will deal with him."

Julian made a non-committal noise, fingers pressed over his mouth in thought. Abruptly, he stood.

"I need to go out. I presume you won't snitch on me?"

Bemusedly, Barry shook his head, wondering when Julian had suddenly turned into him.

* * *

The next morning, Julian was still following Barry's trends since he was even later than Barry. He flew into the room in a barely controlled rage and slammed his bag down on the table.

"Do I want to ask?" Barry questioned and Julian huffed.

"No."

"Alright then." Hoping to get a teasing vibe going, Barry added, "Draco."

It had the opposite effect. If looks could kill, Barry would have been a pile of ashes. "Don't. Call me that."

"Oh, sorry. I won't." Barry's plan of getting Julian to like him was turning out to be much harder than he thought. It seemed Harry's appearance had set them way back.

Suddenly, Julian deflated. "Apologies Allen. There's just…a lot going on."

An apology from Julian? Maybe they were on the right track after all. "It's okay. Is there anything I could, you know, do to help?" Barry offered hopefully but Julian shook his head.

"Thank you but no. This is something I need to deal with myself."

"Something to do with Harry?" Barry risked asking.

Julian looked ready to deny this but then hesitated before reluctantly saying, "Yes. As you can probably guess, Potter and I didn't have the best relationship in school. I'd really hoped to put my life back in England behind me and his appearance has made it rather difficult."

"Did he bully you?" Barry asked with a frown.

Julian sighed. "The opposite I'm afraid. As I've said, I had a…troubled childhood and I did end up taking some of that out on Potter. Not to say he was completely innocent but to put it juvenilely I did…start it."

"Oh." Barry chewed on that for a moment. "Well, you've changed," he ended up saying decisively. "We were all stupid when we were kids."

Julian snorted. "That's one way to put it I suppose. I can't imagine you'll reveal you were secretly a bully however."

"Uh, I guess not," Barry rubbed the back of his neck. "I did have a crush on my foster sister though." He immediately regretted the words once they'd left his mouth, as Julian's eyes widened. _Damnit Allen, this is not what you tell the guy you're attracted to!_ "But I don't now, in case you were wondering. Just proving we're all stupid, right?" He gave an awkward laugh and Julian slowly shook his head.

"The less I know the better I think," he said with a growing smile.

"Probably best."

"Well, thank you for that Allen. Shall we get on with some work now?"

"Please," Barry said gratefully.

* * *

Spell Caster didn't show herself that day and neither did Harry so Barry and Julian actually managed to get a full day of work done. Not that they accomplished much apart from theorising that the burnt down warehouse was most likely due to this new meta. That evening, Barry went to Star Labs to find they also hadn't made much headway.

"The only thing we've got on her is what the cameras picked up that day. Thanks to her teleportation we can't figure out where she went from there," Cisco said glumly.

"You said you think she's responsible for the fire," Caitlin directed to Barry.

"It makes sense," Barry shrugged. "After all, if she caused explosions it wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume she can cause a fire."

"So the fire and then the public exposure. All this for fun?" Harry said.

"Maybe she's building up to something," Jesse suggested. "Think I could come out with you next time she shows up? That way even if she teleports one of us can flash to where she is."

"Sounds good to me," Barry said, looking at Harry out of the corner of his eye. The older man let out a long exhale.

"It makes sense for you to go."

"Great, we'll catch her when she shows up again," Barry said positively and Jesse offered him a fist bump.

Barry was eating a wrap sat at his computer when his phone buzzed. Broadcasted on the screen was a location with 'SPELL CASTER LOCATED' written beneath. Swallowing, he glanced up at Julian who was busy typing away himself.

"Hey, uh, I'm not really feeling this for lunch. I'm gonna go out and grab something else. Be back in a bit."

Julian looked up, eyes narrowing. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, fine. See you."

Barry flashed out and saw that Jesse was already busy dodging spell that the woman was firing with a manic laugh. However, there wasn't just Spell Caster there but _three_ of them. Jesse was currently trying to take down Spell Caster while the other two men looked to be firing spells at each other.

"Spell Caster has friends?!" Barry asked to the comm, speeding forward just in time to pull Jesse out of the line of fire of a yellow streak.

"Looks like it," Caitlin said. "Be careful."

"Got it!" Jesse said, nodding in thanks to Barry before attempting to hit Spell Caster once more only she teleported out of the way just in time. Meanwhile, Barry saw that a spell coming from the other two…wizards who were fighting had just rebounded off a light blue, shield like, spell and was heading towards one of the crowd. He quickly rescued the woman before it hit her, dropping her off far, far, away.

"Hey! Stop what you're doing!" Barry called out to the wizards, managing to distract them long enough to take one of their wands (which he still wasn't used to thinking of them as).

"Hey, I'm on your side," the man yelled and Barry was about to tell him that it didn't matter, that he was still endangering people when all of a sudden, the wand disappeared, reappearing in the man's hand. "Move!"

Barry got shoved out of the way just as a spell, the same shield one as before, was put up where he had been standing.

"Bloody lazy American Aurors," the wizard grunted as he dodged another spell.

"Dude, I think these guys are on drugs," Cisco said.

"Should I trust him?" Barry asked as he ducked from an incoming red light.

"He did save your life."

"I guess. Keep firing your…spells," he directed to the guy who was still throwing up defensive spells. "I'll get him from behind."

"Go for it."

Barry flashed forward towards the new wizard who looked the worst out of all of them, wearing a ripped and stained red cloak and hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in years. He saw the 'good' wizard throw out a maroon spell that forced the other man to side step and that's when Barry took the chance to attack. He almost had him in his grasp when another voice rang out.

" _Arresto momentum."_

And all of a sudden, Barry wasn't fast anymore. In fact, it felt like he was trying to run through quicksand. He looked up and found himself face to face with Spell Caster who was holding up a defensive spell of his own. Seeing his spells were futile, the other wizard teleported towards them but he heard Spell Caster call out another spell that had him frozen where he reappeared. Barry couldn't even see Jesse anymore.

"You know," the wizard purred, showing Barry his crooked, yellow stained teeth. "I've always wanted to try this one. May as well use it on you. _Crucio!_ "

Pain like nothing Barry had ever experience before engulfed him. His blood felt like it was liquid fire, burning him from the inside out and his bones kept snapping over and over again. He fell to the ground, distantly hearing his friends screaming in his ears, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. The last thing he was aware off before the agony abruptly ended was the sound of a familiar voice calling out, " _Expelliarmus!_ "


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Barry noticed when he woke was that his whole body ached, as each muscle had been strained and pummelled. Bursts of pain pulsed in his head making trying to sort his muddled his thoughts and memories incredibly difficult; so much so late it took him a few seconds to register the hushed argument going on above him.

"You are not obliviating him!"

"He can't know Draco! He's a muggle!"

Was that…Julian and Harry? Barry clenched his eyes tight, trying to push past the aching in order to remember what had happened. He'd been fighting Spell Caster with Jesse…but she hadn't been alone and there'd been another guy there who'd ended up fighting with Barry…and then that spell. Barry skimmed past that particular memory, thinking of the last thing he'd heard. He knew the voice he'd heard had been familiar and listening to Julian's voice now just confirmed it.

"A meta muggle!" Julian argued. "One who happens to be my…friend and just got tortured because of _your_ incompetence!"

"I tried to help! It's not my fault the American Aurors refuse to step out."

"You still could have told me when she returned!"

"You said you didn't want a part in this! You're not an Auror anyway, you shouldn't be involved."

"Well it's my business now. You're just lucky Allen is an even worse liar than you."

Even whispered as it was, the argument was making Barry's headache worse and so he decided to make his awareness known. He'd intended to call their names but the minor action of simply moving an arm elicited a pain-filled moan to leave him. It had the desired effect, however, the arguing automatically stopped and Barry opened his eyes to find Julian and Harry standing at the foot of the bed he was in, the two of them looking varying degrees of frustrated and concerned. Upon catching Julian's eyes, the other man's softened, even if his mouth remained a terse, thin line.

"Careful Allen," he murmured, coming to stand beside Barry's head. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore," Barry answered with a wince as he gently pushed himself up the headboard. It was worst upon waking Barry had felt, excluding Zoom, and with the increasing hurt came the memories that Barry couldn't hold back any longer, almost as if he was back there. Brief it had been, but those few seconds where Barry had known nothing but pain had had him thinking it would never end, almost that he'd had a way to end it all permanently…

"Breathe Al-Barry. Breathe. You're alright, you're safe." Hearing Julian's soothing voice and feeling his hand gently squeeze his shoulder brought Barry back from the memory. He gave Julian a shaky, grateful smile, nearly missing the surprised expression on Harry's face.

"What happened?" Barry asked, once he had his breathing under control. In response, Julian exhaled heavily and perched on the edge of the bed. His hand seemed to unconsciously creep over onto Barry's and the speedster certainly wasn't complaining.

"It appears that we're both guilty of harbouring secrets," he started with a wry smile and Barry's eyes shot down to his still suited body, panicked and frustrated that he could be so stupid as to forget.

"Easy," Julian said, a little laugh escaping him. "I'd figured it out earlier. You're not exactly subtle Barry."

Barry couldn't decide what he was having more trouble accepting; the fact that his secret identity had been revealed to Julian or the fact that he'd already known for a while now.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Barry eventually asked.

"Most likely for the same reason I didn't," Julian sighed.

"It was your voice I heard before I fainted, wasn't it?" Barry said. Julian looked briefly to Harry who shrugged.

"If you're not going to obliviate him you might as well."

"Obliviate?"

"Potter here wants to follow the rule book for once and remove your memory," Julian sneered and absently patted Barry's hand when he made a noise of distress. "Don't worry, I refuse to allow that to happen. But first, I ought to explain. Spell Caster isn't a meta Barry. She and her friend, they are a witch and wizard respectively. Real ones."

Even though the possibility had been floating around his head, Barry couldn't help but laugh as it sounded just out loud as it had in his thoughts. Realising that Julian and Harry continued to wear serious expressions made his laughter die down.

"Seriously?" He asked weakly.

"Seriously," Julian nodded. "And as you may have guessed, Potter and I are also wizards. In fact, there's a whole wizarding community, hidden right beneath the muggle, I mean, ordinary world."

There it was again. Muggle. "So muggle means ordinary?"

"Technically it means non-magic folk," Harry explained, leaning against the wall and loosely folding his arms. "Though over here they call them No-Maj's."

Julian rolled his eyes. "An absolutely ridiculous name if you ask me."

Barry wondered how he could think 'muggle' was any better.

"So you mean me and Jesse were actually…wait, Jesse! You didn't see what happened to her, did you?" If Jesse had been hit with the same spell as him…

"She should be fine. The last I saw Spell Caster hit her with a stunning spell, the same one I think you were hit with when you faced off against her the first time," Harry said.

"Good," Barry sighed, relieved. "Wait a second, the last you saw? You weren't there."

"Oh, uh," Harry cleared his throat, scratching his head awkwardly. "Actually I was. That wizard you stole the wand from? Me. I used a glamour, another spell, to disguise myself. Technically I'm not supposed to interfere yet."

"So…you actually use wands to cast spells?"

"We do," Julian agreed.

"But…you got your wand back from me," Barry said to Harry. "How did you do that?"

"Well, some wizards don't always need wants to perform spells. In some cases, if your, uh, powerful enough then you can perform wandless magic. Pretty self-explanatory."

"Right." Barry took a long breath, trying to absorb everything he'd just been told. Even with the answers he'd been given, there were still hundreds more he wanted to ask, new ones popping up every second. A whole wizarding community that no one had any idea about? It just seemed impossible to Barry that everyone could be so clueless.

"And so what Spell Caster's friend said, Crucia, that was a spell too?" Barry asked quietly.

"Crucio," Julian corrected grimly. "It's one of three unforgiveable curses. Using one of these spells earns the caster a one way ticket to Az-to prison. I'm sorry you had to experience it Barry, I know what it's like." Seeing the haunted look in Julian's eyes made Barry impulsively swap their hands over so that he could lightly grasp Julian's wrist in understanding. At the gesture, the man sent him a small smile.

With the momentarily lull in conversation, Barry took the opportunity to look around the place he'd been brought to. He was clearly in a bedroom but it was sparsely decorated. Compared to Barry's mess of a room, it looked barely lived in and only the chewed cap of the pen on the bedside table gave Barry an indication of where he was.

"Is this your place?" Barry asked Julian.

"It is. It seemed the best place to take you. After Spell Caster and her friend disappeared I might have acted…rashly," Julian confessed, a faint blush on his cheeks.

"And by acted rashly he means he threw a spell at the man and then rushed towards you, barely giving me the chance to throw a glamour on him before he brought you here. Actually, you might want to call your friends. They might think you've been kidnapped."

"Crap," Barry winced, thinking of how it must have looked to his friends. "Uh, where's my cowl? I should be able to contact them using it."

"Right here." Julian passed the mask over to Barry from where it had sat on the desk chair. The speedster slipped it on, briefly checking the connection.

"Uh, guys?"

The comm sprung to life. The whole gang seemed to be there, all of them talking at once, and Barry cringed as their voices aggravated the pain in his head. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to quiet them down.

"Guys, guys, it's okay. I'm alright…mostly."

"Dude, where are you? We can't track you!" Cisco exclaimed.

"You can't track me?" Barry looked to Julian, unsure if he was allowed to reveal where he was and also confused as to why they couldn't find his signal.

"I have wards, spells that prevent people from finding me here. It must have extended to the tracking device," Julian explained quietly. "Also, I suppose we're going to have to explain it to your friends as well. You might as well say."

Harry looked like he was about to argue but the fight quickly drained from him, a defeated expression on his face. He waved his hand in a 'be my guest' gesture.

"I'm…actually at Julian's house."

"Julian's house?" Caitlin repeated. "Why are you there?"

"Well, um…," Barry floundered, not even remotely sure how to begin. How did he explain that wizards, witches and magic were real? His panic must have shown on his face as Harry sighed, still looking uncomfortable.

"We could just go to them in person and explain. Without the use of the Aurors, uh, magical police, we're going to need all the help we can get," Harry said over the sound of Iris in his ear, asking if he was sure he was okay.

"Yeah Iris, I'm sure. Listen, I'll come to the lab okay? It'll be easier to explain things in person."

Before they could try and hound him for more details, Barry turned the audio off and sighed in relief.

"You're in no shape to run," Julian noted critically. "Fortunately, I've been to the labs before so we can apparate there. Do you trust me?"

"Uh, yeah? What do you mean apparate?"

"It's a form of wizard transport. It's how Spell Caster and her friend teleported before. It can be a bit disconcerting but just remain and you'll be fine. I trust you can get the Aurors to make an exception for us Potter?"

"American isn't the same as England Draco," said Harry tiredly. "I can't keep making excuses."

"Of course you can," Julian sniffed as though it were that simple. "Now Barry, can you stand?"

Though his legs felt like jelly, he managed to stand upright by leaning heavily on Julian who bore his weight with more ease than Barry expected. "Okay, this should be fine," Julian said, holding Barry around the waist firmly. "Potter…grab my arm."

Harry did and Julian faced Barry once more. "Right. Take a deep breath Barry."

Barry did and within the blink of an eye it was like being sucked into a vacuum, any remaining breath he had leaving him with a gasp. And then, just like that, they were in the middle of Star Labs, their sudden appearance causing a nearby Cisco to leap into the air and Wally to almost fall off the desk he was perched on.

It was a good job that Barry was used to unsettling motions otherwise he was certain he'd be sick. As it was, he gave the stunned gang a tentative smile and wave.

"Uh, so, I guess we'll explain?"

* * *

"That's…a lot of take in," Joe said, sitting heavily on a chair.

"So let me get this straight," said Wally. "You're both wizards. And Spell Caster and her bud are too. But not just that, there's a whole load of you out there that no one knows about and you're here because these guys escaped jail and are risking exposing that magic is real to all us 'miggle' people."

"It's muggle but yeah, that pretty much sums it up," Potter said. Having realised when they arrived that there were two Harry's Barry decided to would be easier to call the wizard Potter.

"Dude, that does not even come _close_ to summing it up," Cisco said, palms pressed together over his mouth.

"Cisco's right. This is impossible. Magic doesn't exist!" Harry said but before the wizards could reply, Jesse spoke.

"So you're saying I was hit by a real spell?" She asked, far more willing to believe that her dad was.

"A stunning curse, the same as Barry," Potter nodded.

"Cool," Jesse breathed.

"No, _not cool_ ," Harry chastised tersely. "This is not cool and it's not real, it _can't_ be."

"Maybe you could show us something?" Iris suggested, enthralled. Out of everyone, apart from maybe Jesse, Barry thought Iris was taking this the best but then, he's not really surprised. He still remembered the little girl who tugged him outside to see the fairy ring, convinced if they waited long enough they'd see fairies dancing there.

[They hadn't and had ended up waiting so long in the rain that they caught colds. Joe had not been impressed.]

"Technically I shouldn't," Potter said apologetically. "We're not supposed to use magic in front of muggles."

"I think it's a bit late to be having reservations now Potter," Julian said, leaning back comfortably in his chair. "After all, they've already been exposed. And if anyone can get away with it, it's you."

Harry tugged at the ends of his hair. "I told you it was different over here!"

"It sounds like there's a story there," Caitlin noted thoughtfully.

"There is but trust me, it would take far too long to explain," Potter replied. "But…I guess one shouldn't hurt. What about this. _Expecto Patronum!"_

A silvery mist burst forth from Potter's wand, morphing and expanding until it took the shape of a deer that began to prance around the room. It playfully nudged against an awed Caitlin, knocked over an empty take-away carton and leapt over Wally's outstretched legs before evaporating into the air. Once gone, the whole of team Flash looked at Harry in amazement.

"That was beautiful," Jesse breathed.

"Awesome," Cisco agreed.

"Completely impossible," Harry muttered, looking a bit pale.

"So is that what it does? Create animals?" Iris asked.

Well, it's main purpose is to defend against Dementors – a type of monster in our world but it can also be used to send messages," Potter explained.

"And we really have no idea all this is going on?" Joe asked tiredly.

"Well, there have been a few close calls, such as an issue in New York in the 1920s, but the wizarding has a complex system in place to ensure that muggles don't discover our existence. We'd most likely have something akin to the dark ages if they were to find out," Julian informed them.

"Which is why this is such a problem," Potter carried on. "We need to figure out a way of capturing them without exposing more magic than they already have. As long as we can keep the public thinking it's due to metas, we're fine. That's why the Aurors wanted to leave it to you Barry. Their initial plan was to wait until you had captured her and then they would have obliviated you and taken her."

"Man, do you even hear yourself?" Wally complained. "Oblivi-what?"

"Obliviate, a spell that causes memory loss," Barry explained, deciding it was best not to mention that Potter had wanted to use it on him earlier.

"But we wouldn't do that now," Julian assured them. "Potter should be able to convince the Aurors to leave you alone, correct?"

Potter rolled his eyes. "I'll definitely try. They should be more willing to leave you be once we apprehend them. If we work together then it should go much easier than before."

"Are you sure there's only two of them?" Harry asked, lips curled down in a frown. "Because we can't afford another surprise like last time. We don't have enough knowledge of…your world to be comfortable fighting them."

"Well, the Aurors already knew about Spell Caster, also known as Meredith Winterly. She escaped their prison. The other bloke with her is Argus Meddlewhere. He'd already been on the Aurors radar but hadn't been active until now. Honestly, we don't know if there are any others. It depends on whether she's actively trying to gather a following or not."

"And doesn't that sound familiar," Julian murmured bitterly as Joe sighed heavily. Iris shot her dad a concerned look.

"It's getting late," she said. "Why don't we call it a night?" Everyone agreed and began to leave, Cisco warning the two wizards that he'd be ready the next day with a list of questions for them to answer. Soon, only Barry, Julian, Potter, Joe, Iris and Wally remained.

"Are you coming home Barr?" Iris asked. "You look like you need the rest."

"Yeah, sounds good." Barry winced as he stood from the chair he'd stuck himself on when they arrived. While he was certainly better than when he'd woken up, after-effects of the curse still lingered. Magic clearly trumped accelerated healing.

"If you like Allen, I have something back at my place which should ease the pain," Julian said, looking at him with concern. "I ought to have given it to you earlier. I apologise."

The idea of going back to Julian's alone caused a faint flush to spread on his face. Behind Julian's back, Iris sent him a secret grin.

"I think that sounds like a good idea Barry," she said. "See you later?"

"Uh yeah. Bye guys."

With a final confused look, Joe headed out whilst Wally, definitely Iris' brother, gave him a thumbs up. Potter turned towards the two of them.

"I'm going to head back to the Aurors and explain everything that's gone on." He looked anything but happy at the prospect. "I'll update you tomorrow."

Julian nodded. "Goodbye Potter. Oh, one last infraction, promise." He glanced at Barry. "Fancy apparating again?"

Barry really didn't but he also didn't fancy running back or trying to get public transport and so he agreed. He grasped Julian's arm and with one last wave to Potter, he was back in the vacuum, reappearing milliseconds later in Julian's flat. Barry slumped on the couch as he got his breath back.

"Does it always feel like that?" He asked.

"You get used to it," Julian replied. "And you have to be very careful when you start out otherwise you risk splinching – a body part might not make the trip with you."

Barry cringed and while Julian set about getting him some medicine, took stock of the room. Much like his bedroom, the lounge area had very little decoration. There was a bookshelf, one half filled with books on science and forensics, the other holding some of the old classics that Barry had been forced to read in English class. There were a few generic pictures on the wall but nothing… _personal_. Barry had a habit of leaving a mess in his wake so it was weird to him to see a place so plain and simple. There weren't even any photos of his family.

"Here you go." Instead of a medicine bottle, Julian held out a vial to Barry that was filled with a translucent purple liquid. Barry gave Julian a sceptical look.

"It's a pain-relief potion. One of the few potions I still keep in stock," Julian said. "It acts similar to paracetamol and aspirin but it's designed to work effectively against magical injuries, the cruciatus curse in particular. It shouldn't react too differently for you even though you're technically a muggle."

Even though he still didn't like the look of it, Barry decided to trust Julian and take the…potion. He uncorked the vial and after getting a whiff of it, resolutely decided not to ask Julian how exactly it was made. Holding his nose, Barry downed the liquid, almost spluttering at the awful taste. He managed to swallow the majority of it, coughing and wiping his mouth.

"That was disgusting!" He complained as Julian chuckled.

"Yes, it's not yet been accomplished to create a potion that is both effective and tastes pleasant. The results should be immediate. How do you feel?"

Barry catalogued his body and realised that his strained, aching muscles had already begun to relax.

"Better," he sighed contentedly.

"Good. By tomorrow morning you should be fully recovered."

"Great." Barry sunk further into the sofa, stretching out his loosened limbs while Julian sat next to him. Now alone with Julian, Barry had so many questions he wanted to ask the man, to connect what he'd previously heard to what he knew now.

"So, _is_ Draco a nickname?" Barry started with once Julian had put the TV on, a sit-com playing quietly in the background.

Julian let out a long exhale. "No," he eventually said. "Draco is my birth name. Draco Lucius Malfoy."

"Oh," Barry blinked. "Uh, wow. Bit different from Julian Albert."

"That was the point," Julian (because despite knowing that, he would always be Julian to Barry) said with a small smile. "When I came to America, I intended to put my past behind me; to make a new life here as a muggle. I've kept a few things as you've seen but up until now I've never had to use them. Not particularly wanted to either."

Barry pushed himself up from the sofa slightly, angling his body towards the other man. "What _did_ happen back in England? Something to do with Harry, right?"

Julian hesitated before muttering, "Screw it." He sat up, leaning his chin upon clasped hands. "It really would take too long to explain fully but while I was at school there was a…very bad wizard who went by the name of V-Voldemort. Long story short, he believed muggles to be beneath him and anyone who fraternised with them was considered traitors. His goal was to take over the Wizarding community, to make wizards and witches superior and enslave muggles. Potter was born as part of a prophecy, the one destined to defeat Voldemort. My family, on the other hand, were one of Voldemort's supporters. During most of our time at school Potter and I were enemies and then, when we were around 17, the war began; Voldemort and his supporters against the rest. Due to my family, I was on the wrong side for far too long. Once Potter succeeded in destroying Voldemort, I stayed long enough to ensure my mother was comfortable and then left for America in the hopes of putting it all behind me."

"That…that just sounds like something from a book," Barry said weakly.

"Trust me, I'd rather it were," Julian responded, amused.

A comfortable silence descended over them and Barry gazed up towards the ceiling, every so often glancing at where Julian sat, more comfortable than Barry had ever seen him.

Barry could say that all this new information meant that he was seeing Julian in a new light but honestly, that wouldn't exactly be true. The man may have told him that he was actually called Draco, that he was basically Merlin but to Barry he was still Julian, the brilliant forensic scientist who Barry would really, really like to kiss and maybe the potion was messing with his head because his body seemed to be gravitating towards Julian without permission.

"I should, I should get back," Barry said, shaking his head a little in an effort to clear it.

"Don't be stupid Allen. As I said, the potion might react with you differently and so I probably ought to keep an eye on you tonight. You can sleep here."

"Uh." Barry's mouth gaped.

"You can take my bed, I'll be fine sleeping on the sofa," Julian continued as if he hadn't just made Barry's brain short-circuit.

"No, no you shouldn't," Barry said once the words in his head caught up with his mouth. "It's okay. I'll take the couch. I don't want to kick you out of your own bed."

"I wasn't the one hit with an Unforgiveable," Julian said sternly. "I'll be able to create some clothes for you if you'd like to change."

Rather than argue further, Barry nodded dumbly and watched as Julian headed into his bedroom, returning a few minutes later with a pile of clothes that looked like they would fit Barry almost perfectly.

"Transfiguration," Julian explained upon seeing Barry's confusion. "I took some of my clothes and modified them so they'd fit you."

"Oh, right. Thanks." Barry took the proffered clothes and headed into the bathroom to change. It was incredibly difficult not to focus on how they smelt just like Julian. When he returned, Julian had changed into his own pyjamas (Barry knew it would be too much to ask that he slept shirtless) and was setting up a blanket and pillow on the sofa. Biting his lip, Barry hesitated before reaching out to stop him, gently holding Julian's wrist as he was in the process of placing the pillow.

"I mean it; I don't want to kick you out of your bed. "If, um, if you're alright with it we could always share. Your bed is definitely big enough for the two of us," Barry offered. Julian stared at him intensely for a few moments, almost like he was searching for something, and Barry tried to refrain from blushing at the scrutiny.

"Alright, as long as you're okay with it," Julian said eventually and Barry hoped his nod wasn't too enthusiastic.

"Nope. It's your bed after all."

Together they entered the bedroom and Barry noticed that Julian had left his wand on the bedside table. He almost went to pick it up before retracting his hand. He didn't know if it would be rude to touch it.

"It's alright. You're fine to take a look. You won't accidently cast a spell," Julian said wryly.

Now given permission, Barry reached out and took the wand, rotating it. It was different to the one Potter had, lighter in colour with a grey hilt. He couldn't believe that this was something that Julian used to perform _magic_. It just looked so…unassuming, like nothing more than a nicely crafted, polished stick. Not a dangerous weapon at all.

"10 inches, hawthorn with a unicorn hair core," Julian said as he slid into his side of the bed. "I don't believe it's very happy with me for being left in a box for so long."

Barry didn't even bother to ask about the unicorn thing. By this point, little would surprise him. "Why did you stop? Did you have to?"

"It was simply easier to live like a muggle. It meant I didn't have to register my house as magical property meaning no one would know I was here. Or, at least, in theory. I shouldn't have underestimated Potter's ability to be a menace."

"Well…I'm kind of glad. I'm glad I'm getting to know you better," Barry said and yep, the potion had definitely messed with him. He was getting far too close to dangerous territory.

Once again, Julian's features softened into an expression Barry was beginning to crave. "Go to sleep Allen."

Barry put down the wand and slipped under the covers next to Julian, acutely aware of how little, torturous, distance there was between them. Why did he think this was a good idea again?

Julian turned out the lamp and then shifted, getting comfortable. In the process, one of his hands brushed over Barry's. It stilled, momentarily unsure, before relaxing again back over it.

Oh yeah. That was why.

* * *

Upon waking, Barry instantly noticed that he felt much better. He wasn't in any pain at all. The second, perhaps more important, thing he noticed was that there was a lean body draped across him and silky hair tickling chin. Barry dared to open his eyes and was rewarded with the sight of a sleeping Julian upon him, his nose crinkled adorably. If Barry hadn't been smitten before he had no chance now.

Barry tried not to stir, intent on burning the image in his mind, but the change in his breathing must have alerted Julian as the other man soon twitched and his grey eyes blinked open. Unsure what his reaction to their position would be, Barry remained silent.

Julian blinked a few more times, gathering his bearings, before saying nothing and leaning up. Barry silently lamented the loss of warmth.

"What time is it?" Julian asked, his voice rough and Barry tilted his head to the side where an alarm clock sat.

"Almost 7.30," he replied and Julian huffed before sitting up further. "I suppose we ought to get ready then. We did say 9, correct?"

"We did but I'm feeling way better so I can Flash us there if you don't want to get up just yet," Barry offered. To his surprise, Julian didn't even argue, he just fell straight back into bed. They lay there together side by side.

"So…wizards, huh?"

Julian snorted. "Trying to convince yourself it was all one elaborate nightmare?"

"Not a nightmare exactly but you've got to admit, it's pretty crazy."

"Not much crazier than meta's existing," Julian pointed out.

"Yeah but at least metas have scientific basis. Magic is just…magic."

"Fair point."

"…When did you figure it out?"

"What? Oh, you being the Flash?"

Barry nodded.

"Well, I'd always known you were hiding something," Julian started. "Honestly, for a long while I thought you were crooked. It didn't make sense but they do say it's always the person you least expect. But then, something changed. _You_ changed. I can't really put my finger on it but it was as if you'd forgotten about our history together. It annoyed me for a while, that you seemed to be trying to play the victim when you'd given as good as you got. It was during that time I also began to suspect you were a meta, though not the Flash in particular. That came when you saved me during the case with Frankie. It was, frankly, easy to put 2 and 2 together after that. Truthfully, I felt like a bit of an idiot for not figuring it out sooner."

"Hey," Barry lightly shoved a snickering Julian.

"So, what was with you around that time? Was it something Flash related?"

Even though he initially wanted to brush it off and not reveal the mess of the timeline he'd made, he had a feeling that Julian wouldn't judge him too harshly, especially after how open he had already been with Barry. And so he explained Flash Point, including everything from his parents, to Iris, to the Reverse Flash (which prompted another 20 minute account) until he got to the point where he travelled back only to find he had a partner he'd never met before.

"Fascinating," Julian murmured when Barry finished. "So I wasn't there at all in your original timeline?"

"If you were I'd never seen you before."

"I wonder what you changed." Julian pondered. "I suppose we'll never know."

"Maybe not but…you've turned out to be one of the best things to come from it."

"Really?" Though Julian probably intended the words to come out as sarcastic, Barry detected a hint of raw vulnerability in his tone and his eyes dropped to Julian's lips, silently asking permission. Julian swallowed, his tongue flicking out to moisten his lips and slowly, Barry learnt forward ready to-

"I'd better get ready."

Julian rivalled Barry with the speed he disappeared and Barry was left to sit there awkwardly, wondering how he could have misread the situation so badly before getting ready himself.

* * *

 _Thank you so much for the reviews, favourites and follows. They truly make my day!_


	3. Chapter 3

"So, what did your 'Aurors' have to say?" Harry asked Potter who, with the dark bags sagging under his eyes, looked more haggard than all of them combined. The same group as the previous day were there minus Iris and Joe. While Barry and Julian could afford to fake a sick day, Joe and Iris didn't have that luxury but even so, they were still helping. Joe was reinforcing the idea to the rest of the cops that Spell Caster and Argus were dangerous metas while Iris had written her own articles emphasising the same.

"They're not happy," Potter admitted. "They're even worse than back home when it comes to muggles knowing. But they do need your help and because of that they're not going to obliviate you. There were some conditions though. I had to give them all your names, including yours Draco." Though he grimaced, Julian didn't argue. "When this is all done you should all be able to keep your memories so long as you agree to be sworn to secrecy."

"Not an Unbreakable Vow I hope?" Julian questioned, his tone steely and Potter quickly assured them it wasn't (not that anyone else had a clue what they were talking about anyway).

"It'll just alert them if you tell another muggle. Completely pain free, I promise. Though, uh, of course you'd all be obliviated if someone did mention it."

"None of us would do that, right guys?" Cisco hastily said, glancing around the room and daring someone to contradict him. Everyone else nodded affirmatively.

"Do they have a plan?" Caitlin asked. "Are they going to help?"

"Not exactly," Potter replied. "But they sort of told me a plan. They're a bit disorganised over here. Anyway, the idea is to lure them out to a location where we'll set up anti-apparition wards – they won't be able to teleport. We thought it would be best if you draw them out Barry since then they hopefully, wouldn't, expect it. Once they come, which given what we know about them, they likely will, you and Jesse will attack I'll come onto the scene since I've already revealed myself."

"What about me Potter? I've also exposed myself," Julian spoke up.

"Oh, uh," Potter scratched the back of his neck. "It's just that, well, it's been a while since you've been out in the field and I wouldn't want to put you in any danger-"

"Danger?" Julian gave a humourless laugh. "Really? Harry Potter, the infamous Gryffindor, is telling me to sit back because of some danger?"

"You're not a trained Auror Draco, in this you're a civilian-"

"I was also in the war Potter," Julian interrupted, frowning. "It may have been a few years ago but I still know how to fight."

"Are you sure?" Barry interjected, almost wishing he'd stayed silent when he bore the brunt of Julian's glare.

"You too Allen?" Barry couldn't help but flinch at the betrayed, hurt tone of Julian's voice.

"It's not that I don't trust you," Barry said, hoping to salvage the situation. "But you said you hadn't used your magic in a long time and-"

"You have no idea what I'm capable of Allen and for that matter, neither do you Potter," Julian snapped. "But fine, if you think me so helpless then I won't help."

"You can still be there," Potter tried. "Just…maybe more as back-up. Honestly Draco I just don't want you to get hurt."

"But it's fine for all of you to risk you lives? Please, tell me how well it worked for you when you went in without me." Both Barry and Potter were silent. "Exactly. But alright, since I'm apparently of no use to you then I'll let you get on with it. Call me if you can be bothered to inform me the details. I promise not to _get in the way_."

Radiating an air of fury, Julian grabbed his coat and stormed out of the lab. Barry stepped forward, ready to go after the man and attempt to explain himself, but Potter held him back.

"Let him cool down," the wizard advised. "If you go after him now then you'll probably end up saying things you don't mean."

Barry opened his mouth to argue but after a moment's hesitation shut it. Barry would like to say he had the best judgement but the truth was he was probably better off listening to Potter. Barry turned around and with a jolt remembered that the rest of the group were still there and had just witnessed that. They all looked varying degrees of awkward and Barry flushed.

"Well," said Harry, his eyebrow raised. "After that little drama shall we get to work?"

Though his thoughts kept returning to Julian, Barry worked hard to keep focused and help come up with a course of action.

* * *

Even though Potter offered, Barry was adamant to be the one to call Julian to tell him what they had come up with. To his disappointment, all he received was a frosty 'how gracious of you' and Julian hanging up before Barry could ask how he was doing.

This meant that the next time Barry saw Julian wasn't until that evening inside an abandoned car manufacturing warehouse. It had been one of the buildings most affected by the singularity and since the company had relocated, there had been no incentive for it to be fixed up. Though it did nothing for Central's appearance, it was a pretty handy location to have a magical stand-off.

Since neither Potter nor the Aurors had a method of contacting Spell Caster and Argus, they'd had to get creative and through Iris' friend, they managed to get a broadcast out to the fugitives over the radio. Even though they couldn't be certain if Spell Caster or Argus would hear it from the radio itself (Cisco's desire to be a wizard had diminished dramatically after hearing the issue of magic plus electronics) they hoped that there would be enough hype that it would get to them.

In order to prevent any of the curious public from sneaking into the battle (the downside of having it broadcast to the whole of Central) Joe and the other cops were surrounding the area. It also meant that they shouldn't be surprised if Spell Caster decided to bring more friends. Cisco, Caitlin and Harry sat in a van parked outside, watching through the cameras they'd placed inside the warehouse. Coupled with the anti-apparition wards, the quality of the footage wasn't great but it was enough that they'd be able to tell if became necessary for Cisco to jump in with his vibe gear. Iris and Wally remained in Star Labs, looking through the cameras positioned by the surrounding streets, ready to give a heads up if Spell Caster showed.

Inside the actual warehouse, Barry and Jesse stood in the main hall which still had a few spare car parts lying around along with a lot of rubble. Behind a pile of bricks Potter hid and in the next room, what had presumably once been an office, Julian waited, shrouded by the darkness.

They'd lured Spell Caster with the promise that if they could defeat Barry and Jesse then no one would try and stop them, they'd have free reign in Central. A lie, obviously, and one they'd been sceptical to use. Potter had assured them; however, that Spell Caster had never been particularly sane and would likely take the opportunity unquestioningly; especially considering that their primary motive at the moment seemed to be attention.

"You ready?" Barry asked Jesse when it was only a few minutes to 7.30 pm – the time they'd told Spell Caster to meet them at. The other speedster grinned.

"You bet, we're gonna kick some ass."

"Carefully," Harry added in both their ears and Barry laughed while Jesse rolled her eyes, an exasperated smile tugging at her lips. They both quickly sobered, however, when a voice echoed out, "You called, Flash?"

Not showing that they were fazed, Jesse yelled out, "Have you accepted our offer? A duel?" As she spoke, Barry scanned the room, but he couldn't see where the witch was. Nor could he understand how she'd got past them without anyone noticing.

"Such an interesting choice of words," a man's voice purred and Barry recognised it as Argus'. "Tell me, do you realise what you're dealing with now?"

Conscious that the police might have bugged the place beforehand, Barry replied, "It doesn't matter what you are. What matters is that we stop you. So come out and show yourself!"

"Bold words Flash. Eagar to feel the take the brunt of our spells again? Did you like this one? _Crucio_!"

"3 o'clock!" Cisco yelled, just in time for Barry to speed out of the way of the incoming spell. He looked at the corner the spell had come from to see no one was there.

"They've got disillusionment charms on them," Potter muttered, sounding angry at himself. "Hold on!"

Potter called out another spell which made both Spell Caster and Argus suddenly shimmer into view around 30 feet away from them. Barry could just make out Spell Caster's eyes lighting up in glee.

"So it _is_ true! Harry Potter is here! Didn't I tell you Argus, we're famous!" She clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Just imagine what'll happen when we kill him _and_ the Flash!" Argus crowed in delight and Caitlin muttered an 'oh dear' while Harry hissed ' _kill_?'

"You're not going to get that far," Barry told them before nodding, the signal for him and Jesse to speed forward. He noticed the exact moment the two realised they couldn't apparate.

" _Arresto momentum!"_

" _Protego!"_

" _Arresto momentum!"_

While Potter may have been able to stop Spell Caster's time-slowing spell, he hadn't been able to stop the others which came from a direction no one had expected.

Above.

"Brooms?! Are you fricking kidding me?!" Cisco exclaimed.

"Um," said Potter, preoccupied by another incoming spell from the ceiling. "I didn't think it would come up?"

"Jesse, on your left," Caitlin called out. "Can you guys move?"

"Yeah but I've got no speed," Barry answered. Unlike last time, he wasn't face to face with anyone and so had the chance to notice that he was still able to move like a regular human.

"Same here," Jesse grunted as she sluggishly, for her, dodged another spell.

"How long will it take to wear off?" Barry asked as he ducked out of the way of a vibrant orange light from above whilst also leaning back from a magenta spell that Spell Caster fired at him, joyfully cackling as she strode forward.

"It depends on the strength of the caster," Julian answered grimly and the sound of his voice nearly distracted Barry from jumping back from another curse. "I'm coming in."

"No, Julian it's-"

"Is that panic I detect Flash?" Spell Caster asked eagerly between spells. Rather than answer, Barry chanced a glance around him, seeing that Jesse was, like himself, both dodging spells from broom flyers and also Argus. Potter, on the other hand, seemed to be doing the best out of all of them and had already knocked one of the airborne wizards to the ground, rope shooting out from his wand that wrapped around the fallen man.

"Do you like our spells?" She then asked. "Wouldn't you agree that it's such a shame we have to hide them? We should be free to share it! To show our power just like you do!"

"You should be using it for good, not destroying things and hurting people," Barry countered. He could slowly feel his speed beginning to power up again and it was with swifter movements that he avoided the spells that continued to fire in his direction. He also noted that Spell Caster had noticed the same since she became for aggressive in her actions.

"But this is so much fun! And you don't understand the _rush_ you get with dark magic. You've already felt one of them. I was gonna wait to use this one but I just can't help myself! _Avada Kedav-"_

" _Sectumsempra!_ "

Before Barry could grasp what was going on, blood spurted from Spell Caster, her manic smile frozen on her face as cuts began to criss-cross all over her body, some long and jagged, others short and deep. They were never-ending and, the shock wearing off, Spell Caster started to scream in agony as she collapsed to the ground. Barry just had the sense of mind to dodge another dive bomb attack though he was almost morbidly transfixed in watching what was happening to Spell Caster. Soon enough, the cuts eventually stopped coming and Barry looked up to see Julian standing unmoving, his eyes wide and mouth parted. For a brief moment, both Barry and Julian's eyes connected and Barry saw the genuine fear and horror in the silver orbs. He hadn't yet gained the ability to make his stationary vocal chords to work before Julian took off running, popping away from sight the moment he was out of the wards.

Spell Caster was still shrieking and the two remaining flyers flew down to her. Even though he knew he needed to get Spell Caster help, he still couldn't allow them to get away and so he used his half-restored speed to knock one of them from their brooms, taking her wand away. Potter had already dealt with the other one, binding her in thick tight ropes. A little way away, Jesse had Argus in hand-cuffs, taking the opportunity of the man getting distracted by the screams. The distraught wizard was shouting madly, swearing at them all and begging to be let to help Spell Caster.

The witch who's wand Barry had stared up at the speedster from where she leant on the floor with a mixture of fear and anger.

"Help her! I thought you were a hero! You have to help her!"

Rope started to bind her, the same as all the others.

"We'll take it from here," Potter said as he came up to stand beside Barry. He had Spell Caster's fallen wand in his hand. Barry heard the sound of footsteps and looked behind him to see Caitlin rushing inside; the potions Potter had given her earlier in hand. Sirens were beginning to sound meaning that Joe was no longer able to prevent the cops from interfering. They needed to get the wizards and witches out of there quickly so that the Aurors could deal with them. Otherwise they would risk the CCPD finding out.

"I've sent my Patronus to the Aurors," Potter said, as if reading Barry's mind. "They should be here any second. You should go after Draco Barry. I know what I said last time but…I think he needs someone right now."

"What…what happened?" Barry asked. "What did he use?"

"Not an Unforgivable but not a nice one," Potter replied seriously. "But Barry, you should know that the spell Spell Caster was going to use on you was another Unforgiveable. However, had this one hit then you would have died instantly."

Barry sucked in a sharp breath, the sound echoed by everyone else listening in.

"Find Dr-Julian. I can't imagine what he just did will be easy for him to deal with."

"Yeah…yeah I should," Barry said, scrambled brain beginning to clear a bit. The Aurors then began to arrive and Barry didn't want to risk getting stuck talking to them. "I'll go to him."

With the rest of the gang still providing alarmed commentary in his ear; Barry sped off, intent on finding Julian.

Not that it turned out to be all that difficult since the man ended up being in the first place Barry looked – his flat. The entire place was bathed in darkness and Barry would have searched elsewhere but he could just make out Julian's wand on the floor by the wall, as if it had been thrown against it. It was with caution that Barry opened the door to the bedroom, finding it equally as dark, and he just managed to make out Julian sat on the bed, his arms circled around bent legs and his face pressed against his thighs. His breathing was coming out short and harsh, like he was struggling to breath.

"Julian?" Barry said quietly. He didn't want to risk alarming the other man but it seemed he needn't have worried. It didn't look like Julian had even heard him. After taking off his cowl and resting it on the drawers, Barry dared to get close enough that he could reach out and touch Julian if he wanted to. He thought about it, hovering out his hand in preparation, but he forwent the idea a few seconds later, not sure how welcome his touch would be.

"Julian? Can you hear me? It's Barry?" Barry leant in closer when he started hearing muffled whispers, the words buried in Julian's legs.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"

"Julian it's…it's okay. Spell Caster's gonna be okay and…and I know what you stopped her from doing to me. I'd be dead if it weren't for you."

His words didn't seem to get through to Julian who just kept mumbling apologies, the moonlight that shined through the uncovered windows reflecting against the tear-tracks on his cheeks. Barry didn't know what to do, what memories Julian was trapped in, and so he ignored his no contact rule and joined Julian on the bed, wrapping the wizard in a loose hug so that Julian's back was pressed against his chest.

"Julian, just breathe with me okay? In…out. C'mon, you can do it. Follow me." He kept murmuring the directions until, eventually, Julian began to mimic him and his breathing slowed. The other man turned his head and stared at Barry through glazed eyes.

"Allen?"

"Yeah Julian, it's me." He offered a smile but it came out shaky and Julian frowned, clarity returning to him.

"What are you doing here?" He rubbed a hand against his face tiredly and let out a long, shuddering breath. He then adjusted so that he was no longer in Barry's hold, which stung more than Barry would like to admit.

"I wanted to check on you. I saw your face after you cast that spell. You didn't look okay Julian…you still don't."

It was a risk, saying that, and though Julian looking like he was initially going to argue, his shoulders sunk in defeat.

"No," he said quietly. "I suppose I'm not. Turns out Potter was right all along."

"No Julian," Barry argued, resting a hand on Julian's shoulder. "I was wrong. We needed you there; you proved it by saving my life."

"There were other ways I could have done it," Julian said bluntly, shaking off Barry's hand. "I didn't need to nearly kill the mad woman."

"You didn't mean to do it," Barry said resolutely. "I saw your face, you didn't mean to."

Julian let out a dark, humourless laugh. "But how can you be so sure? I told my family was on the wrong side of the war. During the last year of it, Voldemort stayed in my family home. That spell I cast? I first saw it when Potter used it on me when we were sixteen. Oh, don't worry," Julian added, seeing Barry's look of horror. "He had no idea what it would do. Despite the situation, I truly doubt he would have used it had he known. But, regardless, the Dark Lord saw this moment when he looked into my mind and do you know what he had me do afterwards?"

Barry shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.

"He made me cast it multiple times. First, he would order me to use it on followers of his who had displeased him. Soon, that wasn't enough. He made me do it on his…prisoners, on muggles. Defenceless muggles who hadn't done anything wrong apart from be in the wrong place at the wrong time." Julian's fists clenched tight on the bed and his jaw trembled as he struggled to get the words out. "He told me if I disobeyed then he wouldn't just kill me but my family as well. And I knew he wasn't lying and that he would just end up killing the muggles anyway. That was the sort of person my parents and I followed Barry. The sort of person I am…who I'm trying to protect you from."

"Protect me from…?" Suddenly, Julian's earlier behaviour made sense. "Julian, you don't have to protect me from you. You're not the kid you were, you're a _good person_. This…Voldemort, he made you use the spell. You didn't use it willingly."

Julian shut his eyes, slightly shaking his head. "You have no idea what I was like Barry, you weren't there."

"No but I know what you're like now. You're now Julian Albert and I don't care what you've done. You said Potter saved the war right? I doubt someone who did that would want to be your friend if he thought you were evil. You don't have to tell me all the stuff you did because I don't need to know. I _like_ _you_ Julian."

"Draco Malfoy is just as much a part of me as Julian Albert Barry, you can't ignore that."

"So you're saying that Draco doesn't take his tea with one sugar and a bit of milk? That he's isn't a neat freak to the point of secretly clearing up my area when I leave for lunch. That he wouldn't overwork on a case because he doesn't want to risk anyone else getting hurt? That Draco Malfoy isn't the type of person who would use a spell so traumatic to him just to save his annoying, overbearing colleague?"

"I'm more than that though," Julian said quietly. "You would be horrified if you heard all the things I did."

Barry wasn't used to being on the other side of this. He now sympathised with Iris and Joe a little more.

"And I've told you it doesn't matter. We've all done things we wish we hadn't. You clearly regret it."

"You should care though!" Julian snapped, clearly getting agitated that Barry wasn't being as easily pushed away as he'd hoped. "Now that the Aurors know I'm here it's only a matter of time before my old life tries to find me again and soon you'll find out everything. I'm simply trying to save you the hassle."

"Like I've said, we've all done things we regret. I've done bad stuff too."

"You've done what you thought was right however. I knew what I was doing was wrong. I was just too weak to say no."

"Not always," Barry said gently, thinking of his selfish decision to save his parents. "And you were a kid Julian. You shouldn't have been put in that situation."

"There were a lot of kids in the war Barry, it's not an excuse."

Barry tried to keep his exasperation under control. "You're not going to push me away Julian so stop trying!"

"I'm not pushing you away I'm trying make you see reason! You're not suited to our world and I refuse to let you get hurt again!"

"Well you could get just as hurt being associated to the Flash," Barry argued.

"Maybe then we should just not associate anymore then," Julian said sharply and Barry's heart stuttered, the fight draining from him instantly.

"Do…do you really want that?"

"I…," Julian's firm expression wavered and he looked so incredibly lost that Barry ached to reach out to him. "No," he eventually sighed. "Against my better judgement…I don't."

Barry had never been so relieved. "So what do you want to do?" He asked, leaning back against the headrest of the bed. A few seconds later, Julian's shoulder pressed against his own as the other man mimicked his position.

"I don't know," Julian replied honestly. "What do you want to do?"

"Honestly?"

"Honestly."

Barry took a deep breath, ignoring the part of his brain that was screaming at him that this was not the right moment. "Kiss you."

Julian stiffened and Barry braced himself for rejection once more. "You…still?"

Barry shrugged sheepishly, taking it as a good sign that he hadn't been forced away. "Yeah, still. Like I said, nothing's changed. But, uh, if I've made you uncomfortable then I'll go, I'll leave you alone and-"

Julian made the very welcome movement of shutting up Barry's rambling by pressing their lips together.

* * *

 _Thank you for your comments, favourites and follows, they make my day. As I have not seen past 3x05 this will not go into deali_ _ng with Alchemy etc. I also like to think this would have been an episode's worth of material. After this chapter there will be an epilogue (not sure when it will come out) and perhaps more for this 'Verse if I get inspiration._


	4. Epilogue

"Pansy, this is Barry Allen. Barry, meet Pansy Parkinson."

"Nice to meet you, Julian's told me about you," Barry smiled, shaking the dark haired woman's hand. He held back a wince from her tight grip.

"How interesting, he's not been very charitable when it comes to telling me about you," she said with a raised eyebrow. "I've been _dying_ to meet the man who finally brought Draco out of his hermit shell ever since he wrote!"

Six months had passed since the incident with Spell Caster and since Barry and Julian had got together. As anticipated, it had been rough to begin with. Julian ended up being required at Spell Caster's trials (which Barry was allowed no involvement with), making him tired and short-tempered, and Barry wasn't able to be there for his boyfriend as much as he would have liked since, as always, there were new metas on the loose that demanded a lot of his time. However, despite some monumental arguments, the trial finished (fortunately with no repercussions for Julian) and there was a lull in meta activity which meant they could spend a well-deserved weekend relaxing together. It was during this weekend Julian admitted that, for all the wizarding world's faults, spending time in it again reminded him of all the aspects he missed. After some gentle encouragement from Barry, he slowly began to integrate himself back into the magical community, getting his house officially registered as a magical property. Since that moment, every time Barry went to Julian's he would find a new magical object. The cauldron had been the most exciting though since losing his eyebrows, he was wary to get to close again.

However, with his re-introduction came the press which turned out to be even worse than muggle paparazzi. In one memorable moment, Barry had blearily opened the door to a reporter and the next morning he was on the front page of the wizarding newspaper Julian got delivered, shirtless chest exposed to the world. Julian had vengefully set the paper on fire before either of them could read the article and he must have done something since they were never approached again.

Despite that, after a lot of 'persuading', Julian took Barry on a trip into the wizarding part of Central. Though Barry had been forced to wear a cloak with the hood up and Julian put a glamour on, it had been worth it. He'd felt like a little kid again, wandering through the magical mall, and though he hadn't got the pygmy puff he'd begged for, he got an assortment of 'Weasley Wizard Wheezes' products and enough sweets to last a year. He wasn't entirely sure how much Julian had spent that day (wizarding currency still confused him) but it was probably a good job he came from a rich family.

Still, that day had been easily trumped by the vacation they'd spent in France with Julian's mother. It was five months into their relationship when Julian asked if Barry would like to accompany him for a surprise visit to his mother. Of course, Barry had readily agreed, knowing that Julian hadn't seen her since he left for America. He hadn't been sure what to expect, Julian was becoming more open with tales of his upbringing, but to his delight Narcissa had been perfectly nice. Nothing could beat the moment that she'd opened the door and laid eyes on Julian. She'd instantly wrapped her son in a tight hug, over-joyed tears pooling in her eyes. She'd then dragged Barry into a hug before he'd even introduced himself, murmuring a quiet thank you in his ear.

And now, Barry was Julian's guest at a different reunion, since Potter never managed to convince Julian to go to the last. This one, however, had even fewer people. It was mainly for those who had been in Julian's year in school, their families and a couple of teachers. Even having been in a magical environment before, he was still star-struck by the castle, having to be dragged by Julian to avoid him wandering off.

(Barry would have liked a warning about the staircase though. The shriek he'd let out when the stone started flying off in a different direction had Julian laughing harder than Barry had ever seen.)

"I told you Pansy, I prefer to go by Julian now," Julian huffed and Pansy smirked.

"You'll always be my Dwaco," she cooed, tugging on Julian's cheek. He slapped her hand away, eyes rolling, but Barry could see the fondness lurking beneath his irritated exterior. A dark-skinned man appeared to the right of Pansy.

"Blaise Zabini," he introduced, the name ringing a bell. "Pleasure."

"Hi, Barry Allen," Barry greeted, shaking his hand.

"So, how did you two meet, if you don't mind me asking? Draco, or Julian, was a bit stingy with the details. "

"That's what I said!" Pansy chipped in, pausing in her tormenting.

Barry chuckled. "Well, it's a bit of a long story…"

There was a gentle pull on Barry's jeans.

"Is it true you're a super hero?"

"And you gotta Gryffindor costume?"

Barry startled, looking down to find two kids by him, both with the same messy inky black hair. Having already been introduced to Potter's whole extended family, Barry recognized the older boy as James and the younger, more solemn one as Albus. Suddenly, more children flocked around him, asking questions of their own, curious adults following them until Barry found himself with an audience. Julian, always helpful, stood back and watched with amusement.

"It, uh, I'm really not that exciting…"

"Uncle Harry said you're called the Flash!" Called a teenager from the back of the crowd. His hair morphed from purple, to blue, to green indicating it was Teddy. He was pretty sure he was related to Julian though how, he couldn't remember. Julian tried to explain his family history once and never again.

"Um, yes…"

"What can you do?" Yelled out one of the eager, red-headed children.

"Run really fast…"

"Go on Allen," murmured Julian, breath ghosting against Barry's ear. "Give them a demonstration."

Barry figured it wasn't every day muggles got to impress wizards.

(It did also help that as thanks for taking everyone's attention away from him, Barry got very thoroughly rewarded by Julian later that night.)

* * *

 _I might revisit this universe but for now this is it. Also, yes there may have been some 'easy fixes' in this but it is primarily a self-indulgent fic, though of course I'm happy if you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading. 3_


End file.
